The present invention relates generally to processing transactions on the Internet and more particularly to systems and methods for efficiently and optimally processing and administering transactions between parties including interactions with brokers, agents, and those parties that offer advertising services.
The amount of commerce being conducted on the Internet is exploding. Both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) transactions are more popular than ever in large part due to the conveniences and benefits available through the use of the Internet to process transactions. Advertising is one service that is particularly well suited for the Internet. There are a multitude of companies that offer advertising through websites, bulletin boards, email and other technologies associated with the Internet.
There are various business processes associated with the operation and maintenance of an advertising service on the Internet. For example, an operator of such a service must make its service availability known to potential customers. This can be done through traditional advertising, web-based advertising, partnerships, co-branding relationships and other ways. In addition, once a large number of listings are obtained, the operator must be in a position to bill for the listings preferably on an automated basis. It is desirable for the billing function to include a way to collect, monitor and credit payments made on account.
In many cases, it is also desirable for a service operator to provide for automatic renewals of advertising services. Automatic renewals provide a way for the operator to achieve incremental revenue from entities and/or individuals that have shown a propensity to take advantage of the advertising services offered by the operator. In addition to advertising, the operator may want to make available other services and/or product offerings which may or may not be related to the context of the advertising. Since demographic information concerning advertisers and possibly potential respondents is often captured by the operator, targeted offerings may be made available and are often successful.
There exist techniques for automatically renewing advertisements and making offers available through the Internet. One typical scenario involves an advertiser or other user navigating to the operator""s website and providing information which usually includes an email address. Once the user signs up for an advertisement or other service, renewal may be accomplished and offerings may be made via the generation (either manually or automatically) of an email which is sent to a specified email address. Typically, the email message contains a xe2x80x9csubject linexe2x80x9d which contains information specific to the offer or, in the case of the renewal of advertising, the advertiser""s advertisement. Often times, this subject line is composed of a cryptic string of numbers and letters which are coded to reflect the offer or advertisement. The email may also contain a message to the user asking whether he or she is interested in renewing the advertisement or accepting a particular offer. If the user is interested, he or she is instructed to reply to the message by selecting the xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d button on their internet browser application. By doing so, the user is causing an email with the pre-designated subject line to be sent to a particular email address which is typically controlled by the operator. In most cases capability is provided such that upon receipt of this reply email by the operator, a software application or similar functionality can process the renewal or offer acceptance automatically.
Unfortunately, this procedure suffers from some drawbacks. First, since the subject line is accessible to and may be manipulated by the user, there is the potential for the user to either accidentally or intentionally manipulate the response so as to create an error. For example, if the user were to change a digit in a string of characters, it could cause a processing error when received by the service provider and this, in turn could result in a lost sale, customer dissatisfaction and/or a dispute. A second consequence resulting from the accessibility of the subject line is the possibility for a security breach. If a user can figure out the xe2x80x9ccodexe2x80x9d, it is possible that the user could intentionally cause processing errors in order to defraud the system and/or cause it to crash. In addition, some email application programs (e.g. Eudora and Microsoft Outlook) may be configured to automatically modify a subject line in connection with a reply email. By way of example, these applications may automatically modify the subject line when a reply is made by inserting a character string such as xe2x80x9cre:xe2x80x9d followed by the original subject line. As mentioned above, such a modification can present problems in connection with prior art systems that rely on the string contained in the subject line.
Another drawback of the prior art systems and methodologies is that there exist significant problems in the case where a user may maintain more than one email account. In such a case, when an email is automatically generated and sent to a user, the user""s origination xe2x80x9cfrom addressxe2x80x9d may not be recognized (and thus the transaction will not be properly processed) if the user replies from an email account which is not the same as the one initially specified in the registration process.
Another specific benefit of advertising (or in any proposed business transaction) in the Internet context which may be made available to users is the ability for each of the parties to a potential transaction to communicate with each other regarding the potential transaction. For example, an advertiser may list a certain office space for rent through an Internet service. Once posted, one or more individuals may view the advertisement and some or all of those viewing the advertisement may be interested in exploring further. By way of example, a potential renter viewing a rental listing may obtain the landlord""s email address from the listing, send the landlord an email including questions about the property and await a response. Following that, the landlord may or may not respond to the interested party by sending a reply email.
In some situations, this procedure does not present problems. However, there are certain situations where advertisers and/or those responding to listing may wish to preserve their confidentiality. For example, an employer may wish to list a new position as a xe2x80x9cblindxe2x80x9d listing such that nobody knows who the company is and/or what the position is until such time as the employer wishes to disclose such information. Further, a potential employee may wish to maintain the confidentiality of his or her identity until such time as he or she wishes to disclose such information. This is often not possible or is very difficult once email addresses are disclosed.
Thus, while internet based advertising and other web sites have come a long way towards user convenience and usability, some aspects of the related transactions still suffer from various problems including those related to security, confidentiality and convenience.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of prior art systems and methods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and methodology which permits advertising service providers as well as other service providers to efficiently and accurately bill their customers and track advertising orders and renewals.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and methodology which permits advertisers to conveniently order and renew advertising services.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and methodology which permits parties to a potential transaction to interact with each other in connection with and prior to consummating a proposed transaction.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a system and methodology which permits such interaction to occur on an anonymous basis up until the time that one or more parties wishes to disclose its own identity.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to permit parties to a potential transaction to communicate with one another without subjecting themselves to unwanted email communications or other solicitations.
The above and other objects are achieved through the novel transaction management system of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, although not necessarily limited thereto, the system of the present invention may function in the context of an internet based commercial real estate advertising system. In such a system, potential buyers, sellers, lessors and lessees list and respond to offerings having characteristics as described in connection with the listings. For example, a potential landlord may, through interaction with the system of the present invention, list one or more buildings for lease. Particular characteristics of the property may be provided in connection with the listing including, for example, location, square footage, applicable zoning restrictions, build-out possibilities and more. Potential tenants may peruse the listings via the system of the invention and interact with the potential landlord through electronic mail.
This communication and interaction may occur on an anonymous basis such that the potential landlord is unaware of the actual identity of the prospective tenant and vice versa until such time as one or the other or both decide to reveal their identity. According to the teachings of the present invention, in addition to maintaining the confidentiality of the identity of the potential parties, it is also possible to avoid the need to reveal any contact information associated with either party (including, for example, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) until such time as a party wishes to disclose such information.
Another aspect of the system of the present invention provides users of the transaction system as well as the operator thereof with the ability to conveniently and accurately track orders and renewals of listings. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when an advertiser wishes to initiate or renew an advertisement, the system of present invention provide various payment options. One possible option the advertiser may select is for billing to occur an automated email process involving, for example, a credit card charge. In such a case, when payment becomes due either at the initiation or renewal of an advertisement, the advertiser may be notified by an automatically generated email with a specifically generated xe2x80x9creply-to addressxe2x80x9d All that is necessary from the advertiser""s point of view at this point to is select and activate the xe2x80x9creplyxe2x80x9d button on, for example, the advertiser""s email application screen. Once this is done, a reply email is sent to and received by the system of the present invention and, based upon the specific xe2x80x9creply to addressxe2x80x9d, the system processes the reply and carries out the automated billing process.
As will be described in greater detail below, the novel features of the present invention are not by any means limited to transactions occurring in commercial real estate context or even with respect to real estate generally. By way of example only, the benefits of the present invention particularly with respect to anonymity and automated billing can offer great value in many other contexts and industries including, job search sites, dating/relationship sites, sites permitting or facilitating exchanges of materials or services, sites offering postings and responses to RFP""s and the like, sites providing collective procurement, or any other environment where internet based transactions may occur. In addition, the teachings of the present invention may be beneficially applied in the context of repetitive billing such as when a utility bills customers on a monthly basis. While the present invention will be described in the context of an internet based commercial real estate listing service, those of skill in the art will recognize that the teachings of the present invention have applicability across a great many industries and with respect to a great many transactions.